Folks,

This year is exceptional with COVID-19 reminding us all how vulnerable we all are. COVID-19 has also made the daily life for all cancer patients extremely dire and even more difficult. As such it is to me a reminder of what Hedda went through. As a parent we were constantly worried about infections and secondary diseases to the cancer and Hedda had many of them. She is one of the many cancer patients that went through a hematopoietic stem cell transplantat, HSCT. It is a treatment in which you treat the tumor so hard that you kill all the stem cells in your bone marrow. Therefore, Hedda had almost no remaining immune system. The second phase of the treatment is a rescue phase in which you feedback stem cells that had been collected from Hedda prior to the high dose treatment. It is a frightening and extremely painful treatment that takes months to complete and it becomes a will of survival as it so hard on your body. I can’t imagine how difficult it most be for the patients and families that need such treatment during the current pandemic. In one of the pictures you can see Hedda getting her own stem cells back following the high dose chemotherapy treatment.

This will be my second year participating in the PMC challenge and whilst the race will be virtual due to the pandemic the needs for all pediatric cancer patients with families are even greater this year. Please support with what you can and Please see if your company can match your contribution. I will do what I can to match contributions made.

I am participating in the PMC challenge with Team Big Jon, a group of people that have all experienced cancer within their families and amongst friends. The team has through the years been one of the highest contributors to the cause of supporting Dana Farber as part of the PMC challenge.

The PMC contributes 100% of every dollar received directly to cancer research and care. It has become the largest fundraising event of it's kind - raising over $500 million over the last 38 years for The Dana Farber Institute. Consequently, your donation will solely go to Dana Farber.

Thank you for supporting Dana Farber and most of all for being so supportive and caring for Hedda and our family. Hedda passed away at the age of 15 on March 2, 2018. She was fighting medulloblastoma for almost 3 years.

Per Sivertsson, second year member of Team Big John